Overcrowded Hallways
by Yugao
Summary: Tenten receives a bouquet of flowers, and suddenly everyone's paranoid. What's going on? NejiTenSasu
1. Twelve White Roses

**_Overcrowded Hallways_**

_**Yugao**_

**_Summary: _**Tenten receives a bouquet of flowers, but she doesn't know who sent it to her. Because of it, her whole life has been turned upside down: Neji is almost always furious for absolutely no reason, and the Uchiha prodigy begins to act strangely. And she wonders, what exactly is going on?

**_Author's Note: _**If in all my fics before, I dedicated this to other people, I dedicate this one to myself. Ha ha… no one I know ships this triangle, but I thought it would be interesting. I'm sorry if Sasuke in particular will be out of character. He's so intriguing but at the same time so difficult to write! Constructive criticism is not just welcome – it's encouraged.

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**_Chapter 1… Twelve White Roses_**

Tenten had a strange feeling that something was going to happen that day. She had woken up that morning with a bright smile on her face, induced by the soft morning sunshine spilling from the window onto her room. The weather was perfect – the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, and there were huge, puffy clouds in the distance. There was a slight breeze blowing in through her window. It was as if nature set up the day to be absolutely perfect.

And yet, it seemed no different than the other days.

As always, she woke up early, had her usual breakfast. She wore her usual training garb, and tied her hair up in buns on either side of her head. She tied her forehead protector on, and set off from the house.

As always, she soon met up with her teammates Lee and Neji, and their mentor Gai in their usual training area.

As always, Lee and Gai-sensei went off somewhere to start their several hundred laps around Konoha, and the rest of their daily training agenda.

As always, she stood there for a few awkward moments with Neji before finally they started training. Together, the two of them – it was as usual.

And as always, Neji evaded every attack she made until finally the sun was in the mid-afternoon part of the sky.

How could she have thought that something different was going to happen? Life had begun to fit into a little routine, one that she played over and over again each day. She had begun to wonder if this was really what happened to everyone; if, one day in their lives, people wake up to the sinking realization that each day will be a monotonous rerun of yesterday's events.

She shook the thought from her head when she noticed that Neji had paused for a moment, almost hesitantly, and approached her. She, too, stopped to look at him. "Neji, is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing," he mumbled.

"Oh… all right," she replied, a little confused.

And then, a funny thing happened.

"We've been training for hours. Come on, I'll buy you something to eat," he said quietly.

She looked up, surprised. "What… did you say?" Was this really Neji she was talking to? Maybe it was someone else, an exiled ninja who'd stolen the real Hyuuga Neji away and taken his form. Maybe, because Neji treating her to an afternoon snack before training ended was almost too good to be true.

"I'll buy you something to eat. Weren't you complaining this morning that you didn't have enough for breakfast? Come on," he said again.

_Now he's concerned? Come on, this can't be real._

His eyebrow rose ever so slightly as she pushed herself up off the ground and walked over to where he was. Slowly, she held out her hand towards the spot between his pale gray eyes… and, with two fingers, flicked him there.

He didn't so much as flinch. "Is that a new way of saying yes, or are you just not hungry?" he asked, an amused smile on his lips.

Tenten stifled a laugh. "Sorry, Neji, just had to make sure!" she beamed. "Let's go, then!"

So maybe she was wrong.

Life was never routine – and whenever it seemed that way, you knew something strange and something uniquely special was going to happen.

* * *

For some strange reason, the ramen house was full that afternoon. It was as if almost everyone they knew had decided to take a break from training and sit down to a hot bowl of miso ramen. By the time they came near the place, they spotted Naruto straightaway (his orange suit was too hard to miss), and he was sitting on the curb alongside his teammates Sakura and Sasuke. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino were also around, as were Shino, Kiba, and Hinata. For such a tiny place, the ramen shop was doing very good business that afternoon. 

"I wonder what's going on…" Tenten muttered to herself.

Neji shrugged, and headed for the counter to order a bowl of ramen for her. They sat down together, with Tenten eating her noodles quietly, and Neji watching everyone but her. When she was done, he spoke again.

"Tenten?" he said, his voice sounding a little uncertain. But when was Neji ever uncertain?

She looked at him, trying to read his expression but failing miserably. She took a guess. "Oh… thank you for the ramen, Neji, and I'm sorry I disturbed your training. Should we start getting back now? I know it's not like you to do this, and I really appreciate that you're being concerned, but… I really could've handled a few more hours of training. In fact, we've trained for much longer than that, and you never said anything about stopping. I'm sorry if I led you to believe I couldn't have taken it anymore." she said, and when it came out of her mouth she knew it sounded as if she was babbling.

"No, it's all right… I wanted to tell you something, anyway," he mumbled incoherently, so that she didn't quite know if it was for her or for himself.

She nodded anyway. "Sure, what is it?"

"I…" he began hesitantly.

"Excuse me, are you Tenten?"

Tenten tore her gaze from Neji at the sound of her name. In front of her, she saw a little boy with wide, curious brown eyes look up at her. He was holding something behind his back as his grin widened. She smiled at him. "Yes, that's me. Why?"

"Um…" the boy looked around at all the people who had suddenly stopped eating so that they could stare. "Someone told me to give you something, so… here."

He showed her what he had been hiding before – a bouquet of fresh, dew-laden white roses. The flowers were held in a gauzelike pink paper, and held in place with a red tinsel ribbon. There were perhaps only twelve flowers, but the boy was so small that he struggled with it even as he handed it to her. The semisweet fragrance of the roses filled the air, and she smiled, a blush spreading out on her cheeks.

"Thank you," she told the boy, "But… do you know who asked you to give this to me?"

From the corner of her eye she saw two people tense: Neji, who was beside her, and, for some strange reason, Uchiha Sasuke.

The boy shook his head. "No, I don't."

She could almost hear Neji sigh with relief. No, no, of course not. Why should he? And was it just her imagination, or did Sasuke's shoulders just relax? What exactly was going on around here?

"Thank you, anyway." She laughed, and then pulled out one of the white roses from the bouquet. She offered it to the little boy, and smiled. "Here. Give it to someone special to you."

He took it with a small blush, and a shy "Thank you!" before he finally left.

The moment he disappeared from sight, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Naruto crowded around her with playful smiles. She gave a sheepish laugh, and felt her grip on the bouquet tighten a little, as if she was trying to draw reassurance from it. "Um… hi?"

"Tenten-chan has a secret admirer!" Naruto almost yelled. "Tenten-chan, tell us, who is it, who is it?"

Sakura groaned. "Come on now, Naruto, if she knew, it wouldn't be so secret, now would it?"

"Don't you at least have an idea as to who sent them?" Hinata, who was curiously poking at the flowers, asked.

Ino grinned. "Someone special, I guess! White roses are supposed to mean true love!"

"Wait, wait, wait, guys!" Tenten said, glad to have finally gotten a word in edgewise. "It's just a bunch of flowers. It's not a big deal, right?"

Sakura shook her head. "Of course it's a big deal! You have a secret admirer, and we're all dying to know who it is!"

"If I had to guess," said Naruto loudly, "It'd be Neji!" The moment those words came out of his mouth, he immediately regretted them. He had only just noticed that the Hyuuga prodigy was still behind him, glaring at him dangerously. "Um, uh, I mean…"

Hinata suppressed a giggle, while Ino asked, "So, Tenten, what are you going to do about it now?"

"Me?" she asked, getting up from her seat. She cradled the flowers in the crook of her arm, and smiled. "I'm going to go home and put these in some water."

Neji got up, diverting his death glare from Naruto. "I'll walk you," he offered. Naruto looked as if he couldn't hold his laughter in anymore, but he was silent.

_Third miracle in a day, _Tenten thought to herself, but shrugged it off. "Thanks," she told him. She turned back to the others and waved goodbye, a smile on her face. And, if only barely, she noticed the small, almost indiscernible smile tugging at the corners of the Uchiha's lips.

* * *

She closed the door as she entered, having said goodbye to Neji and thanking him for walking her home. He had seemed a little on the edge, but she took it to be because of Naruto's chiding back at the ramen house. She found a dusty vase, and set the flowers carefully atop a table while she filled the vase with water. She came back, and untied the ribbon from the bouquet. Slowly she set the flowers in the water, and put the whole vase on the center of the table. 

Contentedly, she smiled. She was about to turn to leave when her eyes caught a small white envelope stuck to the pink wrapping.

Tenten picked it up, and turned it over. Was it going to tell her who sent her the flowers? She didn't show it, but she was dying to find out.

There was no name on the outside.

Carefully she opened the little envelope, and took out the slip of paper inside. It didn't hold the name of a mysterious admirer, only the words "_I hope you like them."_

Her brow furrowed. Who could have…?

A sharp knock came at her door, bringing her from her reverie. "Who is it?" she called out, putting the piece of paper down on the table. There was no answer.

Another knock. "Is someone there?" she asked again. This time, her hand reached into her pocket cautiously for a kunai. She walked towards the door slowly.

A third knock, and she gripped the knife tightly in her hand. Quickly she reached out and turned the doorknob, ready to strike.

But no one was in the doorway.

Warily she looked out the door, trying to make out if she could sense anyone hiding nearby. Even if they had left, she was positive whoever it was could have gone so far so fast, but… she shook her head. What was she thinking? There was no one around.

She was about to close the door when another flash of white caught her eye. On the doorstep was a small white envelope much like the one attached to the bouquet.

Tenten bent over to pick it up, and again she noticed that there was no name on it. Apparently, whoever it was wanted to remain anonymous.

She closed the door, and sat down on the couch as she flipped the envelope open. Inside was a note, on which was written: "_You're someone special."_

At once her own words from that afternoon returned to her. "_Thank you, anyway." She laughed, and then pulled out one of the white roses from the bouquet. She offered it to the little boy, and smiled. "Here. Give it to someone special to you."_

She held the note close to her, and smiled a little. She was thankful for everything – especially the little miracles that brightened up that day.

**_Author's Note: _**I think that if I was in this situation, I'd be scared, but I don't think Tenten has anything to worry about. I'm no kunoichi, after all! Straight off the bat you can see why this story is NejiTentenSasuke, and I'm sorry I suck at suspense. Please review, and oh yeah… tell me what kind of ending you'd want.


	2. In Denial

**_Overcrowded Hallways_**

_**Yugao**_

**_Author's Note: _**I forgot to mention in the first chapter that the title was inspired by a song from a musical titled _Sunset Boulevard. _The song's title is _As If We've Never Said Goodbye, _and it's a pretty but sort of sad song. Also, thank you so much for all your nice reviews, faves, alerts and everything else. I didn't really expect to get so much attention for this fic! I'll really try to write and make it up to your expectations.

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own Naruto, and I don't own the song that inspired this fic.

* * *

**_Chapter 2… In Denial_**

_The sky was dark blue, streaked here and there with an almost silky violet. Stars rose and fell around the horizons, especially where the sea and sky met. There was the scent of a light mist, and the sweet fragrance of roses._

"Tenten, wake up."

_She traced the shoreline, letting the soft spray of sea foam tickle her bare feet. It was chilly, but she refused to let the cool sea breeze wipe the smile from her face. She raised her eyes, and that small smile widened._

"Tenten, I said wake up."

_On the golden sand was a solitary white rose, like a lone star on a dark night. She closed her eyes, thankful to know that someone in this world actually thought she was special._

"Tenten, if you don't wake up now…"

Tenten woke up with a start at the sound of the voice. Her brown eyes widened, and her jaw almost dropped, at the sight of who had woken her. Standing in her bedroom, fully dressed in his training regalia and the perpetual expressionless gaze, was Hyuuga Neji. The moonlight that slipped in from the window by her bed cast more shadows than it did light, but she knew for sure that it was Neji. Suddenly realizing her embarrassing state of dress, she pulled the covers closer to her and asked, "Neji! What are you doing here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Waking you up for training."

"You're kidding. It's nighttime, idiot," she retorted, still groggy from lack of sleep.

She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the Hyuuga's eyes twitch a little. "It is not. Check the time before you say anything you might regret."

She groaned, and fumbled for the clock that stood on her bedside table. She brought it up to the light, and shot a glare at Neji. "It's two in the morning!"

"Exactly. Now go get ready, I'll wait for you outside," he said nonchalantly.

"What on earth do you plan to train for at two in the morning?" she asked as she finally pushed back the covers and stood up. She received no answer since he had already left the room, so instead of wasting time to argue with him, she laid her clothes out on her still undone bed and entered the bathroom. She took a quick shower, dried off, and put on her clothes. She was in such a hurry that for a few moments she didn't realize that she was trying to put her foot into a glove. Tenten sighed exasperatedly

When she was fully dressed, she tied her hair back up quickly, almost sloppily, and left the room. Neji was standing beside the couch when he noticed her, and he pushed himself up away from the wall and said, "Let's go, then."

"Wait," she said hesitantly, "What about breakfast?"

He looked at her dryly. "You can live without it."

He turned away from her, and she shot death glares behind his back. If she couldn't fight to save her own life at training that day, she swore she would put all the blame on him.

* * *

"Neji, what is this about?" 

The only light out on the streets came from the almost silvery half-moon and the lighted lampposts every seven steps. Neji was leading the way, and she couldn't imagine what he was thinking at the moment. He had not talked to her at all since they left her house, and she knew that something was getting on his nerves. But what was it?

He didn't turn around to look at her, nor did he even pause. "You need to train harder," he said simply, and once again they fell to an awkward silence. The only things to be heard were their footfalls on the cemented pavement, as well as the chirping of crickets in the low-lying brush.

"Who trains at two-thirty in the morning?" she mumbled, more to herself than to Neji, who obviously wasn't paying attention anyway. Surely only a hell-driven, utterly obsessed Hyuuga would get up at such a morbid hour to train. Surely. Right?

As if in answer to her question, Uchiha Sasuke appeared around the bend, and he seemed almost as surprised as she was to see him there. Almost, but not quite. "Good morning, Sasuke," she said cheerfully as he passed by. The boy had offered her a chance to divert her attention from her infuriating teammate, and even though a reply was much more than she could hope for, she had greeted him good morning.

The third set of footsteps stopped, and Tenten knew that Sasuke had paused. "Good morning, Tenten," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

She stopped in her tracks, and glanced back at the Uchiha's retreating figure. She hadn't been expecting an answer, and in all the times she had greeted him good morning this was the first time she had merited a reply. She didn't know quite why that affected her so much, but she stood there for a few moments, wondering why all of a sudden, everything had taken a drastic change.

She calmed herself down. It was just "Good morning" after all. Why should she make such a big deal out of it?

_Because he never greets anyone good morning, that's why._

"Tenten, are you just going to stand there gaping until the sun rises?"

The sound of Neji's voice pushed any thoughts of surprise and wonderment from her head. "Oh… right," she said absently as she turned around to follow Neji. She fell in step with him, and chanced a look. His face, which so often was unusually pale, was reddened; she couldn't discern if it was from anger, embarrassment, or indigestion, but from the agitated look in his pallid eyes and the way his lips curled into a thin frown, she gathered it was probably anger.

… Or indigestion.

"Neji, did you eat something that didn't agree with you?" she asked suddenly.

He stopped to look at her this time. "What kind of question was that?" he asked, his voice tinged with irritation and curiosity, but much more irritation than anything else.

"An honest one," she replied, "Come on, I won't laugh if you feel like… you know, you have to go to the toilet or something. Promise."

He frowned even more, and she realized that he wasn't kidding. His voice took on a warning tone. "Tenten. Stop."

"Sorry," she replied weakly, "But I can't stand having you angry with me."

He gave a long sigh. "I'm not angry with you, Tenten. It's just that… I've got something on my mind right now, that's all." But the way he said it ascertained it: he was angry, and if he wasn't angry with her, he was angry about something regarding her.

But if he wasn't ready to tell her, then she wasn't going to force him to.

She changed the subject. "Do Gai-sensei and Lee know about this? That we're training early today, I mean?" she asked him.

"Gai-sensei was sent off on a mission yesterday afternoon, and Lee decided he had to tag along… something about sharing experiences that keep the flame of youth burning," Neji replied, and she was glad to have gotten a straight answer from him, but a little worried to know that Gai-sensei and Lee weren't around. Had Neji planned this?

No, of course not, stop being paranoid, Tenten.

Soon they arrived at their usual training area. The moment she set foot in the clearing she heard a fast whizzing sound, and in a split-second a kunai was in her hand, deflecting the shuriken aimed straight at her. She looked around for her teammate, wondering where he was. "Neji? Neji, where are you?" she called out.

"Here," he answered, and in his hand she saw a dark, almost morbid dark gray glimmer. In a flash, a flurry of shuriken sped towards her, and she had to tumble out of the way to evade them.

She glared at Neji, who was standing a few feet from her. He was getting ready with another handful of kunai as they locked gazes. "Neji, what are you trying to do, kill me?" she said exasperatedly as she skirted his next attack. "What exactly are you planning?"

"We're working on your defense, Tenten," he answered simply.

She clenched her fists. If it wasn't for training, and it wasn't Neji, she would have decapitated him right then and there; unfortunately, it was both. "All right then," she murmured, taking out a scroll from a back pocket. She bit into her thumb, drawing blood. Quickly she smeared the wound on the open scroll, turning it into a staff. She smiled a little, and Neji knew it was a challenge. "Defense it is, then."

He smirked as he pulled out another set of shuriken as he disappeared into one of the trees. Tenten squinted as she tried to make out where he was, and cursed. He was lucky that it was so early in the morning – it was so dark, she couldn't even tell the difference between twigs and leaves.

She was lucky, though, that she was the Weapons Mistress of Konoha.

Tenten heard the almost inaudible whistle of shuriken that cut through the air, and with a wave of the staff she blocked them all. She wasn't used to this, to be perfectly honest: whenever they trained, they seemed to focus on Neji's defense and her own offensive tactics. She wasn't entirely sure if the sudden change was welcome.

All too soon she heard the sound of kunai cutting through air, coming from an entirely different direction. From where was Neji throwing these things? She only barely dodged the last three throwing knives when another set came from her left. This time, her weakness showed: one stray shuriken, which would have been easy to catch had she been actually worrying about that single one, grazed her shoulder and drew blood.

She flinched, but wouldn't let Neji know he'd hit her. He probably already knew, what with the Byakugan and all, but she wasn't about to make it obvious.

Tenten rolled out of the way of a seventh bout of kunai as she grabbed a dagger of her own and threw it straight at where the attacks had been coming from. Instead of hearing the grunt of pain she had wanted to hear from the Hyuuga, she heard a dull clunk of metal meeting wood.

She scowled. How could he have left so quickly?

Before she knew it, she heard another attack coming. In her hurry to escape she tripped on a stray rock embedded into the ground, twisting her ankle painfully as she fell down. She was about to shout, or at least show some visible sign of pain, when she caught herself. Neji was still around, and she wasn't about to let him win no matter how hurt she became.

Despite her efforts to get back up, Neji appeared a short distance from her, his hands in his pockets. He wore an almost self-satisfied look on his face. "Your defense needs more work," he said casually.

She reddened. "Is that all you could say?" she asked angrily. Anyone else would have cried, but she bit the tears back. It would be one less victory for Hyuuga Neji.

"You're distracted," he pointed out, "Ever since yesterday afternoon. When you got those flowers you've been thinking of nothing else. You even forgot that we weren't done training yet."

Tenten's eyes widened. "So that's what this is about," she whispered. "Neji, if my fighting has worsened or if it seems like I'm less determined to become an effective kunoichi, I assure you it has nothing to do with the flowers I received yesterday."

His eyes narrowed, and she was incredulous. Was Neji, the Hyuuga Neji, actually acting… jealous?

There you go again. Stop doing that, Tenten scolded herself. He's just… protective.

"You know what? Never mind. I need to get home," she said finally as she pushed herself up off the ground. "Goodbye, Neji."

"Wait, Tenten."

But for one of the first times ever, she didn't.

* * *

Tenten limped back through the busy streets of Konoha, using the walls and fences as her only support. By the time she'd come back the sun was well high in the sky, and she was not surprised. Her training session with Neji, which for her seemed to last for only ten minutes, could not have possibly gone less than three hours. There was also the fact that the distance between the training area and the village was fifteen minutes worth of walking, but an hour worth of hobbling, falling, getting back up again, and more hobbling. 

In other words, she was infuriated with Neji.

She grabbed hold of a low white picket fence and leaned against it as she tried to move her twisted ankle. It throbbed painfully, but she couldn't do anything about it until she reached home. She glared, almost as if it would scare the pain away. Why was this happening to her? Only yesterday it seemed as if everything was going to go perfectly, and that day was obviously one of her worst ever.

… And it wasn't even half over yet.

"Need help?"

She turned around, surprised at the question, and even more surprised at the one who offered help. Standing there behind her, still expressionless and stoic, was Sasuke. "Um…" she said uncertainly, "Excuse me?"

He raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "If you don't want any help you're welcome to limp home all by yourself," he answered.

Tenten debated whether or not she should accept, and finally decided on it. "Actually… I'd really like some help, thank you," she said hopefully.

Sasuke shrugged again, and the expression in his dark eyes was unreadable as he put her arm around his shoulder. With his other arm he supported her waist, and she leaned on him as they walked slowly back to her house.

The walk seemed like forever, but finally they arrived at her doorstep. "Thanks so much for your help, Sasuke, but I can take it from here," she said with a grin as she turned the doorknob.

He nodded, and let go of her. No "you're welcome," only a small half-smile that was so unique to him. He turned around and walked away, leaving her waving goodbye to him.

She was surprised not only because he had offered to help her, but also because he knew where her house was without even asking.

**_Author's Note: _**I know it's not as good as the first one, but… think of it as plot development! I updated so quickly because of your stellar reviews, so do you think you could motivate me again? Thanks so much for reading!


	3. Turnaround

**_Overcrowded Hallways_**

_**Yugao**_

**_Author's Note: _**And… the third chapter is here! Drumroll please… haha, just kidding. Thanks for all your great reviews and such; I appreciate your support loads. In this chapter, Lee enters the scene and tries to play the "bridge" to patch things up between Tenten and Neji. (I ADORE LEE, but I suck at writing him.) Read on and see…

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own anyone from this fic, no matter how much I'd want to.

* * *

**_Chapter 3… Turnaround_**

Tenten tied the bandages around her swollen ankle, pausing every few moments to inspect it. Luckily it wasn't twisted like she'd thought before, only sprained; still it would put her out of commission for at least a few days. She sighed, and cut the bandages when she was sure it was enough.

She leaned back against the chair she was sitting on, when there came a sharp rapping at the door. "Coming!" she called out. She hung on to the little notches in the wall, like windowsills and shelves, as she hobbled to the door. She cursed a little when the knock came again. "I said I'm coming!"

Finally she reached the door. No sooner than she had opened it, her green-spandex-clad teammate smothered her with a huge hug. "Tenten! Are you all right? Neji told me you were hurt so I had to come over!" he said, all in one breath.

Tenten tried to pry her teammate's arms off her; if he didn't stop soon she thought she would die from strangulation. No one underestimated Lee's strength. Ever. Because doing so would be an incredibly stupid move. "Lee…" she was able to grunt, "Please… let… go… you're crushing me!"

"Oh," he said as he pulled away, taking from thin air a wooden crutch, "Of course. But how are you, Tenten? I only came back with Gai-sensei this morning and Neji told us about your injury. I even brought you the crutch that Gai-sensei borrowed from the hospital so that you could walk better."

She couldn't help but grin. "And by, 'borrowed', you do mean, 'stole', right?" she asked curiously. "Right? Come on, Lee, admit it."

"How can you say such things about Gai-sensei?" he almost exploded, and she giggled at his excessive adoration for their mentor. "He's moral, upright, just, fair…"

Tenten nodded, just to shut him up. If Lee was ever asked to enumerate all the adjectives he could possibly use to describe Gai-sensei, he would be talking until he was ninety-nine and then some. "Okay, okay, Lee, I get it," she said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. "So you say Neji told you about this?"

"Yes, he did," he answered as he handed her the crutch. She leaned against it as he said curiously, "He didn't tell us how you became injured, though. Maybe you can tell me, Tenten. And while you're at it, you can tell me why Neji didn't."

She groaned. "He didn't tell you, Lee, because he caused it."

There was an awkward silence before finally Lee burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that tears of mirth had begun to fall from his dark eyes, making Tenten wonder vaguely what had pushed him into his sudden hysterics. When his laughter died down, she asked him dryly, "So, you're done now, right?"

"Tenten…" he said with a slight chuckle, a remnant of his hysteria, "Don't make me laugh. Neji wouldn't do anything to hurt you! So tell me what really happened this time."

She looked at him skeptically. "Lee, I told you the truth. Neji overworked me at training and I sprained my ankle in the process. I wouldn't kid you."

Lee seemed genuinely confused. "But… Neji wouldn't…" he murmured lightly before turning away. "But why would Neji do that? What could've happened to…?"

He paced, not letting her get a word in edgewise as he crossed the length of the room several times, muttering to himself. "I don't understand… how could this have happened? What would have caused Neji to do something like that?"

She shrugged. "If I knew, none of this might've happened in the first place. I might have just run for the hills." She knew, as well as everyone else did, that a pissed-off Hyuuga was worse than an erupting volcano. Or a stampede of rabid dogs. Or both… simultaneously.

Lee stopped pacing, as if an idea had come to him in a hurry. "Okay, Tenten… I hope you get better soon!" her teammate said in a rush as he turned towards the direction of the door, "I just remembered… I had something else to attend to. I'll come visit you as soon as I'm done!"

And with that, he disappeared out the doorway as quickly as he had come.

* * *

"Neji, what are you doing!" 

It was an exclamation, really, more than a question, but Hyuuga Neji was disinterested with correcting grammatical errors at the moment. He offered his spandex-wearing teammate a glare and a nonchalant, "Nothing," before turning away.

Lee wouldn't let him off that easily. "Neji, why didn't you tell me it was you who sprained Tenten's ankle?" he called out, not with the least bit of tact. "That's not the way to do it!"

The Hyuuga didn't pause, not even for a second. Without turning, he mumbled, "It's not the way to do what?" trying to sound as bored as he possibly could, when in all reality he was somewhere in between infuriated and seething.

"That's not the way to pursue her!" he said confidently, because Konoha's handsome green beast was also the self-proclaimed Doctor Love. At those words, Neji turned around in surprise to face his teammate.

Neji's heart skipped a beat. "Who… told you… I was… pursuing her?" he demanded, half-threateningly. After each phrase, he slid in a little venom for emphasis, even grabbing onto Lee's spandex suit by the scruff of his neck.

"Neji, Neji, Neji," his friend said with a laugh, "No one needs to be told! It's obvious, really. Everyone in Konoha knows… except Tenten."

The prodigy gave a visible sigh of relief. "Fine," he mumbled, turning around to leave again. "Goodbye, Lee."

"Wait, Neji! Aren't you going to plead for help from me, Rock Lee, Konohagakure's matchmaker extraordinaire?" the other young ninja said with a laugh. When the Hyuuga genius didn't respond, he called out even louder, "I know a surefire way to get you and Tenten together!"

At that, Neji stopped.

Lee smiled triumphantly to himself as he approached his friend. He congratulated himself for being able to get into his friends' heads so easily, but he supposed it was mostly because he learned from the best. "Well, Neji?" he asked playfully.

"Tell me," the other replied, not even turning around to face him. As usual. For some reason, most Hyuugas were antisocial for one reason or another, and Neji was at the top of the Unsociable Prodigies list.

"But first, Neji, you have to tell me how this whole thing started!" he said with a laugh, putting an arm around the frustrated Hyuuga. He eased him down by a tree and they both sat there, with Lee's eyes practically sparkling with curiosity.

Resignedly, but with no less edge to his voice, Neji began, "The other day, in the middle of training, we went to the ramen shop…"

* * *

Tenten hobbled out of her house, peeking out tentatively to see if anyone was around. Contented, she took the first few steps out of her home, with most of her weight supported by her crutch. 

Sure, Tsunade and any other respectable medical ninja would have advised her not to put pressure on her foot so early after it was sprained, but she was a fighter. She could get through everything if she worked hard enough, even a sprained ankle. _Especially a sprained ankle, _she thought obstinately as she moved her crutch forward a little bit.

"You'll twist another ankle if you try to keep that up," came a sardonic remark from behind her. She turned around, and grinned at the sight of the Uchiha rookie munching on a rice cake. For some reason, the sight of such an extraordinary person doing something so ordinary made him look cute… or funny; or both.

He raised an eyebrow at her stifled chuckle. She caught the expression, and laughed out loud. "Sorry…" she apologized, "Sorry. It's just that… you were one of the people I was least expecting to come around and tell me that."

He shrugged, and took another bite of his rice cake. Tenten giggled again, and this time he didn't react at all. "Um… where are you headed, if I may ask? Will you be training soon, or going on a mission, or something?"

"No," he said with another shrug. She wondered, vaguely, if he always accompanied everything he said with either a dry stare or a shrug; she concluded from his devil-may-care attitude that he did.

She beamed. "Great! I'll tag along with you then," she said with a big smile as she came into step with Sasuke. "You don't mind, do you?" she added, realizing that her self-invitation was rather hasty and a bit rude, especially around _the _Uchiha Sasuke.

He didn't reply, so she took that to mean, "No, I don't mind, Tenten. Come along with me and kill the rest of the boring and uneventful hours of your day." She grinned at the thought and limped after him, not realizing that with every step, he was stiffening.

"So tell me," she started awkwardly to break the silence, "How does this year's number one rookie spend his free time? I've always wanted to know."

He cast a glance at her, and looked away quickly, almost hesitantly. "How I spend my time isn't important," he murmured, choosing his words slowly and carefully, as if a single syllable out of place would change its meaning. Then, as if suddenly realizing he had finished a rice cake, he reached into the pouch attached to his belt and pulled out another one.

"Where do you get those things?" Tenten laughed, pointing at the rice cake that had seemed to just materialize from thin air. "Don't tell me you have room for those in your pouch full of weapons."

He tilted his head slightly. "A ninja needs to know how to _make _room," he pointed out. He reached back into his pouch, pulled out yet another rice cake, and held it out to her. "Want one?" he asked, a question in his dark eyes.

"Don't mind if I do," she replied with another lilting laugh as she took the cake in her free hand. "But you've got to teach me how you stash those things in without totally slicing them up with your shuriken."

Sasuke didn't answer. For a while, they walked on in silence. The streets were still unnaturally busy at that time of day, so whether they wanted to carry on a lengthy conversation (or, more aptly put, whether Tenten wanted to carry on a lengthy monologue) or not, they wouldn't be able to hear each other over the shouting, selling, and talking going on in the main roads of Konoha.

After a while, there absent wandering took them to a clearing in the middle of the forest. It was so much like her team's training area, but so little like it, as well. She looked at her companion questioningly. Sasuke obliged her with an answer. "This is where I come to think by myself," he murmured.

She nodded and followed him to where he had sat down. Tenten sat across from him carefully so as not to do more damage to her ankle. She chanced a glance at him, and wondered why, after all this time, she was never able to take so much notice of him. Before, he was just another face in the sea of people, in the overcrowded hallways of Konoha.

But now, he was more.

* * *

Neji shot death glares at anyone who even dared to look at the heavy pink box in his arms. The parcel, topped with a bright red tinsel bow, was tucked safely under his arm in an attempt to make it look like nothing. However, making a very conspicuous present the polar opposite was a very difficult task, even for the Hyuuga prodigy. 

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He brought Lee and the advice he gave to mind as he walked.

"_So what should I do?" Neji asked the five words he never thought would come out of his mouth, ever. Not knowing what to do was what Hyuugas were supposed to avoid._

_Lee smiled, sniffled, and smiled again before engulfing his teammate with a huge hug. "Neji! I am so glad that you and Tenten have found ways with which to better spend your youth!" he said proudly, with tears starting to stream from his eyes. _

_The Hyuuga grit his teeth as he reluctantly repeated, "So what should I do, Lee?"_

"_Let's see…" he mumbled thoughtfully, "First you have to apologize to her, then you can ask her to marry you, and then you get to plan your wedding, and then…"_

_Neji's eyes twitched at that. "Lee. What do I do now?"_

"_Oh," Lee's brow creased. "Well… why don't you try giving her chocolate?"_

And so there he was, Neji Hyuuga, carrying a box of chocolates in his hand, searching for Tenten.

The only thought running through his mind was, _this feels so wrong._

"Good afternoon, Neji!" called out a cheery Naruto. The heir apparent to the title of Hokage approached him, eyes crinkled with a wide grin. Those blue eyes opened in surprise, though, when he noticed the bright pink and obviously conspicuous box in his hands. "Wait… what is that?"

Neji glared. "It's none of your business. Have you seen Tenten?"

Naruto's grin widened, as if such a thing was even humanly possible. "Oh! I get it now! It's chocolate, isn't it, Neji? Chocolate for Tenten! First the flowers, and now chocolate…" the boy laughed excitably.

"Naruto, have you seen Tenten?" he repeated, on the very edge of his self-restraint.

The other young ninja paused in his seemingly incessant laughter to say, "Yeah. I saw her go into the forest with Sasuke. Why?"

The only reply Naruto got before Neji took off was a lingering glare.

**_Author's Note: _**Haha… more plot development, I know. Sorry for that, and if it seems a bit rushed. I'm occupied for the rest of the month, but I really enjoy writing for _Overcrowded Hallways. _Please review? I might be able to update sooner if you do. Thanks!


	4. Armageddon

**_Overcrowded Hallways_**

_**Yugao**_

**_Author's Note: _**Thanks again, as usual, for all your lovely reviews, faves, alerts, and the like… you really keep me going. So to prove I'm really grateful, here's the fourth chapter, titled Armageddon because of the – and I quote – the "apocalyptic fight scene" between the Uchiha and the Hyuuga. The fight scene itself might not be up to scratch, but I'll be referring to certain episodes to check out the techniques of Neji and Sasuke. And, to warn you… this may be one of the last chapters. As for the ending… (Don't worry. You didn't really think I'd spoil it for you here, did you?) I'm still a bit indecisive. I have something in my head but I'm not sure you guys would approve, but what the heck! Well… sorry for the super-long author's notes. Here goes…

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own anyone from this fic, no matter how much I'd want to.

* * *

**_Chapter 4… Armageddon_**

"About…" Sasuke seemed to hesitate before he continued, "About the flowers you received the other day. At the ramen shop. You remember, right, Tenten?"

Tenten nodded, smiling because she had heard him call her by name for the first time. "Yeah, of course I remember. What about them?" She pretended not to catch the uncertainty in his voice, the waver in his usually confident tone. She noticed it, though, and the need to know why clawed at the back of her mind. Still, she plastered a fake smile on her face and pretended not to take notice.

"Do you… do you know who sent them to you?" he asked, once again seemingly unsure. "If you don't mind my asking, that is."

She shook her head. "Not at all," she replied with a grin, "But in all honesty I have no idea who sent them to me. They didn't come with a name or anything."

"You must have a hunch, right?" he asked.

Tenten shrugged. "No. But Naruto keeps saying it's Neji, so I don't really know," she explained, watching for his reaction.

"Dobe," Sasuke mumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me!" she replied apprehensively, roused out of her almost dreamlike stupor at the insult. "Who are you calling a dobe?"

Sasuke stared at her for the longest while, as if he had no idea as to why she suddenly reacted. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, his dark gray eyes widened. "No, I didn't mean you!" he said abruptly, looking the most childlike she'd ever seen him. He was flailing his arms in the air much like Hinata did in her 64 Palm technique, only more frantically. "I meant Naruto. I'm sorry if you thought that…"

"Sasuke-kun," she said with a grin, "It's all right. Calm down."

He did, falling into an abrupt silence. Color crept up into his usually pale cheeks, as if he felt embarrassed over his unexpected burst of apologetics. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, "I'm a little fidgety today. I don't know what's gotten into me."

"That's okay," she replied, "I've been rather jumpy lately, too."

His dark eyes fell on her bandaged ankle. "Can I take a look at your injury?" he asked her, somehow with both detachment and concern at the same time.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "All right," she said as she reached down to her foot and slipped her sandal off it. She looked up at him and asked, "Do you think you can help me with it? It's a bit of a problem."

He didn't answer, instead making to reach out and inspect it.

He never got the chance to, because all of a sudden, they both heard the distinguishable buzz a kunai makes as it cuts through the air. Tenten jerked out of the way, no matter how painful her foot was. Sasuke had jumped out of the way and, with his eyes, surveyed the place for any sign of the attacker.

They didn't need to look far.

"What are you doing here, Uchiha?" came a slow, venomous growl in a voice Tenten recognized so well. She turned around, and a strange sight greeted her: Hyuuga Neji was standing at the place where the clearing met the trees, his breathing slow and ragged, and his looks ready to kill. Still, he carried a bright pink box tucked under his right arm. She didn't know exactly if she should have cried with laughter or if she should have told him off for giving her a heart attack.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What's it to you?" he asked edgily, the way he would ask an enemy. In a way, Neji was.

Neji ignored the spiteful question, turning instead to Tenten. "I've been looking all over Konoha for you," he said gravely, "And this is where you've been."

"Not like I could have gone to training today, Neji, you know that as well as I do," she replied, trying to push herself back up to her feet. "Why exactly were you looking for me?"

The Hyuuga genius recoiled. "I… wanted to say…" he began, groping for the right words to say.

Somewhere, the Uchiha wanted to make sure he wasn't left out of the picture. He scoffed slightly. "Spit it out, Hyuuga," he snarled.

"It's none of your business," Neji retorted, promptly forgetting all about the pink-wrapped present, which fell to the grass with a thump. The glare in his eyes hardened and Tenten knew where this was going.

She moved to stay in between them, holding her arms out to either one of them. "Neji, Sasuke, stop," she said, half breathless in the effort it took to keep them away from each other. "What are you doing?"

Before she could get another word in edgewise, Sasuke took his stance, and smirked. Neji must have taken that as a challenge, because he, too, went into his stance. After a split-second, he lunged at the Uchiha so fast Tenten barely noticed.

The Hyuuga, driven by rage and perhaps something else, threw flurries of alternating punches and kicks at the Uchiha, who expertly parried them all. When a pause in Neji's step gave Sasuke an opening, he immediately countered with his own combination of attacks. It was a close-range battle, a fistfight instead of a battle of wits. No one was even using weapons…

But it seemed Tenten spoke too soon. Sasuke rolled out of the way of a roundhouse kick, and pulled out a pair of small, star-shaped shuriken, flipping them effortlessly yet with deadly accuracy. They would have been fatal had Neji not moved out of the way so fast.

He countered with a kunai that fell two inches away from his target, who had rolled out of the way to avoid an even closer margin. Another barrage of kunai came, since he threw six at a time, three from each hand. The Uchiha was finding it harder and harder to parry the Hyuuga's attacks.

In an attempt to get retribution, the younger prodigy pulled out his own kunai, hurling it with devastating speed to where Neji was. He skirted it, if only by a half-inch, by jumping out of the way just in time. A forward roll took him back to his feet and back to his bout of throwing-knife strikes.

Tenten watched helplessly, feeling incredibly wretched because of her handicap. _If I could run right now, _she thought scathingly, _I'd march right over there and give them both a beating for being so stupid. _Her foot wouldn't let her, though, and for once in her life she was forced to stay at the sidelines, reduced to no more than a damsel in distress.

Remembering the first lessons he had out of the Academy, Sasuke took to the trees to shield himself. Neji followed suit; the both of them were no longer in the clearing – they had taken their fight into the forest.

Unluckily for Sasuke, he forgot all about the Byakugan.

In a matter of minutes, Neji located the Uchiha rookie skulking somewhere in the trees. Masterfully he launched a near-unexpected attack, bringing Sasuke out of the trees and down to level ground.

Undaunted, Sasuke ran out back onto the clearing, throwing shuriken back at the closely pursuing Neji behind him. Once he was back out on the field, he turned around and looked at Neji proudly, almost conceitedly.

"What are you so smug about?" Neji asked, the first words either of them had said since the fight began. The veins taut around his Byakugan tensed – he knew the Uchiha was baiting him somehow.

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke's hands formed several seals, one after the other, all of them familiar. Panicking but not wanting to show it, Neji retreated as fast as he could away from the place. "Katon – blazing fireball technique," came the Uchiha's words, soft, proud, but not entirely willing. The red-hot fireball illumined and cast an ominous orange glow around everything that surrounded them. The very edge of the flames licked at Neji's skin, and the sudden heat forced him to the ground.

The Uchiha released his chakra flow, and the fireball vanished. He reached back into his pouch for another three kunai, and he approached, slowly. He was almost sure he had it won. Almost.

But he just had to make sure.

Tenten watched, voiceless, as Sasuke walked up to Neji with kunai in hand. She wanted to stop them, of course she did. But how could she get in between two rookies driven by hate for each other? She'd only get hurt, and they wouldn't even notice.

Sasuke stopped a meter's length from Neji, who had just begun to rise. The bandages on his arm had been singed off, showing the slightly burned skin underneath. The Hyuuga looked murderous.

At that moment, Sasuke jumped up into the air, hurling his kunai in Neji's direction. With the Kaiten, which Tenten presumed was used with the last of his strength, he deflected them all. The greenish circle disappeared as quickly as it came, sending him to his knees, broken and defenseless. The Uchiha, too, seemed sapped of all his energy; his limp body crumpled to the grass.

Tenten sighed, relieved it was finally over and showing it as she murmured, "Idiots."

* * *

With Lee and Gai-sensei's help Neji and Sasuke were brought safely to the hospital, where several doctors and nurses saw to them, as well as Hinata for Neji, and Sakura for Sasuke. Everyone was curious as to what caused the rookies' injuries. Was there a fight? Was it between the two, or between them and a much stronger, more powerful enemy? What led them to do such things, if they got into a fight with each other? 

No one knew, not even Gai-sensei and Lee who showed up at the hospital with the two boys badly tired and battered.

All Tenten knew was that she needed a good sleep, and that the long walk to the hospital wouldn't do her any good at the moment.

She pushed herself up to her feet, with her crutch's help, and made to leave. But before she could, a flash of bright pink caught both her eye and her curiosity. It was a present; the one Neji had dropped before the fight even began. She hobbled rather awkwardly before finally she reached the gift box.

She sighed. What was Neji not telling her? So many things, it seemed, were going through his mind; he didn't seem to want to tell her, though. And what about Sasuke? He had befriended her despite his seeming callousness, and she couldn't say the sudden change wasn't welcome.

Not for the first time in her life, she wondered what exactly was going on.

Her crutch fell away purposefully, and she sat down cross-legged on the grass as she had before. Slowly, gingerly, she took the pink box in her hands and laid it on her lap. She wondered to herself what it could be.

She let her fingers run over the vibrant pink paper, feeling its grainy texture beneath her fingertips. Somewhere in the expanse of coarse wrapping paper she felt a small, smoother envelope attached. Curiously, she detached it from the box and held it up to the light.

Outside, in front of the envelope, read "To Tenten."

Even more curious than before, she flipped the envelope over and opened it. She pulled out a small note inside, unfolded it, and chuckled at what she read.

_I'm sorry for hurting you, Tenten. I hope you like chocolate._

And on the bottom it was signed: _Neji._

As she unwrapped the box she grew even more curious. Was it really Neji who sent the flowers, or someone else? Was she looking for a strange, secret admirer from a faraway land, when in truth he was right there beside her all along?

It was so ironic it was almost funny.

Tenten opened the box, randomly picked a piece of chocolate from the many delicious-looking ones, and took a bite. The milk chocolate coating sweetened it to exquisiteness, while the mint-flavored filling made it unique, and left a spicy taste in her mouth. She felt herself grin, not just because the chocolate tasted so good, but also because it reminded her of all that had happened: the experience, becoming closer to Neji and befriending Sasuke, was wonderfully sweet and unforgettable.

Above her, a myriad of birds flew northbound across a salmon-lavender sky.

**_Author's Note: _**Hahaha… this chapter made me laugh somehow. I know, I'm sorry it sucked and was rather anticlimactic considering the fact that I know the other ones were so much better, but, well… please tell me what you thought of it.


	5. Confessions

**_Overcrowded Hallways_**

_**Yugao**_

**_Author's Note: _**So… here's the final update of _Overcrowded Hallways, _people. Thanks for the hits, faves, alerts, and everything else. If you wanted more, sorry it's so short; however, this was never meant to be a long chaptered fic. In fact I had it pegged down to four chapters, and what do you know? It stretched out for one more. This wouldn't have been completed without all your suggestions and support. I might not make a sequel, but I'll probably make other NTS triangles in the future, so you might want to watch out for them if you enjoyed this fic. Thanks again – Neji, Tenten, Sasuke, and I are eternally grateful.

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own Naruto.

* * *

_**Chapter 5… Confessions**_

Bare, unadorned white walls and white cloth curtains greeted Sasuke as his eyes opened. Still half-asleep, he wondered vaguely where he was. He pushed back the white sheet that blanketed him as he sat up, brushing the sleep from his eyes. When his eyes opened again, they widened – he remembered what had happened, if only barely, between him and the rage-driven Hyuuga.

His dark eyes fell on Tenten, who was fitfully asleep. She was sitting on a chair at his bedside, and was leaning against the edge of the bed, where her arms stretched out across the sheets. Her head lay on the mattress, with her hair in various forms of disarray and her face pretty even in disturbed sleep.

Not wanting to wake her, he pushed himself off the bed the side opposite her. Unfortunately, she woke up with a start at the sudden movement. "Sasuke? Don't get up," she said, albeit a little groggily. She pushed her chair back and stood to take a look at him.

"I'm fine," he replied obstinately, trying to mask the pain in his right arm. "Really. Just leave me alone."

She scoffed. "No, thanks. I've waited for a few hours to make sure you're all right, and I'm not about to leave so soon. Now sit back down, the doctor said you have a few injuries to your arm. How do you feel?"

At that, he stared at her blankly. She'd waited that long to see if he was fine? Absently he sat back down on the bed and sat there numbly as Tenten inspected his right arm. As she went about her silent work, he looked around the room again, and noticed two bunches of flowers hastily stuffed in a ridiculously small vase. The first was a bouquet of pale pink carnations, while the second was in the middle of them: three yellow roses.

He looked back at Tenten, who had sat beside him, done checking up on his arm. "Who are the flowers from, do you know?" he asked.

"The carnations are from Sakura," she replied, and pretended not to notice Sasuke's carefully stifled wince. "And the roses are mine."

He was silent for a while, before mumbling an almost incoherent, "Thank you."

She shrugged. "It was nothing. It's just a bunch of flowers. I got you and Neji into that fight, and three roses aren't enough to pay for your medical bill, you know. You shouldn't thank me like that."

"I'm sorry I acted without thinking, fighting him like that. If I hadn't reacted so quickly, maybe we might not have fought," Sasuke said slowly, picking his words with care. "I didn't want to burden you even more with seeing to us when you had your own injury to take care of."

Tenten grinned. "There you go again. You know what, ever since we became friends all you've ever been saying is sorry. I think it's… nice that you want to help me, but sometimes, Sasuke, I can help myself. If I was a helpless damsel-in-distress, after all, I wouldn't even have become a genin."

"I'm…" sheepishly, he caught himself in the middle of apologizing again. "I understand."

She laughed. "You know what?" she asked.

"What?" he answered quietly.

She looked him in the eye; her warm brown eyes were meeting steely gray ones. "Before we ever started talking, I always thought of you as out of reach. You were always so mysterious, so brooding, and so cold. Even then I knew you weren't like everyone else."

"But later, I got to know you better. You became a little less of a mystery and a little more of a person. What I once thought was out of reach became a reality. You aren't like everyone else, Sasuke – you're different, and most people like you that way," she continued.

Quietly, he diverted his gaze, afraid of what she would tell him. Would she push him away, nicely or otherwise? Would she leave him after what had happened? Should he even tell her how all this began?

But she surprised him.

"So, Sasuke, if anyone should be saying thank you…" she said with a wide smile, "It should be me."

Stunned, he looked back up at her again. The corners of his mouth tilted upwards in a little half-smile, and Tenten laughed at the sincere attempt. Suddenly, she put her arms around him in a warm hug, making him turn as red as his now short-circuiting brain would allow. "Thanks, Sasuke."

With that, she broke the embrace, stood and made to leave. But as she opened the door, he called, "Tenten."

"Yes?" she said, turning to face him.

He groped for the right words to say, and her words came back to him. "The roses were mine," he said quietly, almost hesitantly.

Tilting her head, Tenten's smile was not only on her lips but in her vibrant eyes, as well. "Yes. I know," she said amusedly as she closed the door behind her.

* * *

"Has he come awake these few hours?" 

"No, he's been unconscious all day. He's been in quite an exhausting fight, I presume?"

"I prefer not to talk about it."

"Well… of course. I didn't mean to pry."

"No offense taken. How soon do you think he'll come to?"

"The doctor says it won't be for another hour yet. He's badly hurt, but nothing's broken, luckily. He just needs his sleep."

"Of course."

"Will you be waiting here until he wakes up? I have somewhere to be, anyway, so if you'd like to be alone…"

"Yes, please. Thank you."

Neji kept his eyes closed even as the voices, seemingly distant, faded away. Finally, the door closed, and he let his eyes open slowly to adjust to the light. Surprisingly, the light flooding in from his bedside window was soft and almost muted, so he guessed it was late afternoon. How long had he been here, after his fight with the Uchiha? He cursed slightly that it took so much out of him.

"I'd guessed you were awake. The nurse told me you wouldn't be for another hour or so, but she just doesn't know Hyuuga Neji, does she?" Tenten said wryly as she sat down by his hospital bed.

He smirked. "No, she doesn't."

Restlessly, she pushed herself up off the chair and walked to the end table by the window. She took out three peach-colored roses and set them in the empty flower vase at his bedside. Casually, she asked, "So how long have you been awake?"

"Two, three hours, maybe," he answered. His brow furrowed slightly in confusion. "I thought you were mad at me," he pointed out.

Tenten shrugged, and gave him an amiable smile. "You know I can't stay mad at you, Neji," she said with a laugh, "You're my teammate, and you know me more than anyone else does. Staying mad at you is near impossible. I thought you knew that by now."

"Obviously I didn't, otherwise I wouldn't have been scared half to death that you wouldn't speak to me again," he answered, an ironic twist in his voice. He sat up, and leaned against the headboard for support. His arms were folded across his chest stubbornly.

She raised an eyebrow. "And that scares you so much because…?" she asked playfully.

He winced. He should've known better than to let something as small as that slip. Tenten never missed a thing.

"Well, Neji?" she said with a grin.

He looked back at her, and answered, "Because, like you said, we know each other more than anyone else does. If suddenly it stopped for such a petty reason…"

"Petty reason, huh? You and Sasuke almost killed each other," she pointed out.

He pretended not to hear her. "If suddenly our friendship stopped for such a petty reason, the time we spent together would've gone to waste."

"Oh?" she asked curiously. "Is that what you think?"

He looked at her quizzically.

"Getting to know another person isn't a waste of time. Even if someday, two close friends drift apart, they still have the memories of what happened, and experience isn't something easily traded away," she explained, with a smile on her face as she spoke, "But the paths they walked together, the lessons they learned on the way – those are more precious even than time."

He was silent.

She laughed. "I didn't mean to say that it would have been all right with me if we stopped being friends, Neji!"

He raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking about everything that's happened these past few days."

"And?" her voice took on a playful tone. "What did we learn?"

He gave her a sardonic smile. "I wasn't trying to be funny, Tenten."

"Neither was I, Neji," she replied innocently.

He fell silent for a moment, and anyone looking into his pallid eyes would know that he was deep in thought. He pushed back the covers, and stood up to walk to the window. He looked out over the tangerine-amethyst dusk sky, and the myriad of birds flying past.

"What was it you wanted to say, Neji?" Tenten asked, seriously this time.

Neji smiled and approached her, stopping when he stood in front of her. "I wanted to say… thank you," he replied, "For everything."

And in that moment, his lips brushed hers in the sincerest symbol of what he said.

* * *

Sympathetically, Tenten held the eleven white roses in her arms for the last time. Unlike before, though, they were now wilted and browned around the edges of each once pristine petal. Unlike before, they drooped wearily, tiredly. Unlike before, their evanescent beauty was all spent. 

She smiled sadly as she placed them carefully in the trashcan. She was going to miss coming home to the sight and fragrance of roses, but there was no use hanging on to them. They were, after all, only a memento of something more real, more beautiful.

She walked back towards a closed window at the far end of the room; she opened it, slowly coercing its rusted hinges to budge. Finally, it opened, and it let in the cool night breeze. Stars dotted the sky here and there, twinkling playfully down at her and everyone else in Konoha.

She closed her eyes, trying to bring back to mind the white roses and how they began a one-of-a-kind adventure. It made her closer with a new friend, brought her together with another, and taught her so much about life in general; she knew that afterward, life was never going to be the same. Not even in the sleepy town of Konoha.

_Even though the roses died, and their beauty faded, I'm always going to remember this._

**_Author's Note: _**And here ends _Overcrowded Hallways. _I think I've said practically everything else in the topmost author's notes, except for one very important thing: please review. I'd really like to know what you thought of it, not just the last chapter but the whole story in general. Do you want another NejiTenSasu from me? Just send me a PM and we might work something out. But for the moment… thanks and goodbye.


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